Israel to build 300 new settlement homes in West Bank

Palestinians have accused Israel of jeopardising attempts to restart peace talks after Israel announced plans to build almost 300 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Beit El, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

The decision by Israel’s civil administration, the military body that runs day to day affairs in Israeli-controlled parts of the West Bank, came despite reports in recent days that prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu had agreed to an American request to freeze construction in order to encourage the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

An adviser to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the Israeli move undermined hopes of a two-state solution. “It shows that Israel does not care about the international community or President Obama’s visit and the message that settlements are destructive to peace efforts,” said Sabri Saidam. “Israel is determined to kill the geography on which any Palestinian state can come into being.”

[CF413]Placating settlers
[/CF413]Last year 30 settler families were forced to leave their homes in the Ulpana neighbourhood of Beit El after the Israeli high court ruled that the area was privately owned Palestinian land. To placate the settlers the government agreed to a massive construction programme for Beit El, and yesterday's green light for 296 new homes marks the first stage of that programme.

US secretary of state John Kerry is due to return to the region later this month with a package of proposals aimed at getting Israel and the Palestinians to renew peace talks which broke off in 2010.

Palestinians have long insisted on a West Bank settlement freeze as a precondition for the resumption of talks. Mr Netanyahu opposes such a policy, but there have been indications in recent weeks that he would be willing to put construction on hold, without a public declaration to this effect.

Meanwhile, the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem has concluded that most Palestinians killed during the second Gaza war last November were civilians not involved in fighting. A comprehensive report issued yesterday determined that during the eight days of fighting 167 Palestinians were killed, of whom 69 were “combatants”. Eleven of the fatalities could not be identified as combatant or civilian. B’Tselem concluded that Israeli forces acted “contrary to the laws of war”, but the army said there was no justification for criminal investigations.

In a separate development, Cambridge university spokesman Tim Holt has confirmed that renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking did in fact decide to cancel his participation in next month's president's conference in Jerusalem due to the Israel boycott. Mr Holt had earlier released a statement claiming Mr Hawking decided not to travel for health reasons.